D 1 
H35 
opy 1 



REPORT 



OF 



Forestry Committee 



OF THE 



HAWAIIAN SUGAR PLANTERS' ASSOCIATION. 



1807. 



j 



HONOLULU : 

Hawaiian Gazette Pbint. 

1897. 



Honolulu, H. I., November 18th, 1897. 

To the President, Officers, and Members 

of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association, 
Honolulu, H. L, 

Gentlemen: — I beg to submit for your consideration Re- 
ports on Forestry by Mr. David Forbes, of Kukuihaele, Ha- 
makua, Hawaii; Mr. K. S. Gjerdrum of Hana, Maui, and by Dr. 
Maxwell, Director of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Ex- 
perimental Station. Dr. Maxwell's report was written to 
President Dole at the latter's request, and was kindly loaned 
me for the purpose of presenting it at this meeting. It might 
here be mentioned that although Dr. Maxwell does not claim 
to be an expert on Forestry and Forest influences, yet it is well 
known that during his numerous and extended visits to 
various points on the other Islands he has interested himself 
in taking observations on this all important subject. His 
report to President Dole therefor will be of great interest to 
all who look forward to a systematic preservation of our 
forests. 

The subject as dealt with by Dr. Maxwell was referred by 
him to Prof. Furnow, Chief of the Division of Forestry in the 
United States Department of Agriculture, who is perhaps one 
of the most celebrated experts known on Forestry and Forest 
influences, and Prof. Furnow's reply to the points taken by Dr. 
Maxwell I also beg to, submit for vour serious consideration. 



LETTER BY DR. MAXWELL (ex-officio member of For- 
estry Committee) TO PRESIDENT DOLE. 

Hon. Sanford B. Dole, 

President of the Republic of Hawaii, 

Sir: — In compliance with the request, made personally by 
yon previous to my last visit to the district of Hawaii, that 
T should record any observations made in the course of travel 



upon the present state of the forests, and upon recent changes 
in forest areas, and the apparent economic consequences of 
those changes, I beg to submit to you the following memo- 
randa: 

It is not necessary to preface the observations with general 
remarks upon the relations of forest, rainfall, and the econo- 
mic value of lands, since these relations have been so amply 
set forth by the results of exact studies made in other coun- 
tries, and are generally understood. 

The mode, however, in which forest surfaces operate in tak- 
ing moisture from the air passing over them is not so general- 
ly well known; and it is in place to explain that while forest 
and other altitudes do affect, and possibly draw, atmospheric 
currents that bear moisture, the main value of the forest is in 
presenting a cool surface to the moisture-laden air passing 
over, and thus causing the cooled air to give up a part of its 
moisture as rain. By way of illustration I may add that I 
made some readings of the temperature of the air, the sur- 
face soil to a depth of six inches, and of the inside of the 
trunks of trees about nine inches in diameter, and four feet 
from the ground, when I was in the Hamakua District. The 
air temperature was 85 degrees, the soil 84 degrees, and the 
temperature of the trees 72 degrees. The temperature of trees, 
however, depends upon their size or mass, and the smaller the 
tree or bush the nearer its temperature comes to that of the 
air. This example is given in order to guard us against the 
idea that any vegetable covering with small trees, bush, or 
scrub, will induce greater precipitation, and to explain that, 
whilst the bush and ground growths conserve the moisture by 
preventing a rapid discharge to the sea, it is forest, composed 
of trees of great height and bulk, which mainly affects the 
fall of rain. 

In the District of Hilo it is not fully evident that an actual 
decrease in the rainfall is transpiring, but there are ample 
indications that the water is not conserved as well as formerly, 
but washes more directly to the ocean; and this change 



threatens to affect the plantations, which depend for the 
fluming of cane upon the steady and uniform flow of the upper 
water to the sea. However, the signal relation of Hilo to the 
other districts of the island make it a matter of the greatest 
moment that the conditions of rainfall in the upper Hilo 
district shall not be threatened, since if the rains in that 
district should be affected, the rains from the Hilo region 
moving towards Hamakua might be reduced to nothing. 

I moved to Kohala from the Hamakua district over the Wai- 
mea plains, and had opportunity to note the further depletion 
of remnant areas of the original forest. 

In Kohala district the abnormal drought of this year has so 
intensified the consequences of the gradual falling off in the 
rainfall that appears to have been going on for some time that 
care is required in order to avoid an extreme view of the 
situation. I have, however, observed, and have been informed 
by the best authority, that the forest line upon the slopes de- 
clining to Kohala town has been moved back several miles, 
and within a period not exceeding ten years. This destruction 
of the front line of the forest, where may be seen dismantled 
trees rotting on the ground and dying bush, has been mainly 
caused by mountain cattle, which were allowed to range down 
to the plantation lines. Today the lower lands are, from 
want of water, becoming useless for grazing, and the best 
pastures are upon the higher areas, which a few years ago 
were so dense and thick with forest and brush that a bullock 
could hardly penetrate. These observations show how ex- 
tremely short-sighted and ruinous is the absence of a system 
of forest control which allows ranches to run their cattle 
down to the edge of the open lands. The consequences of the 
moving back of the forest line fall, first, upon the lower lands, 
in reduced shade and rainfall. But these consequences come 
almost as quickly upon the ranches themselves; because when 
the forest shade is gone the pasture and water soon go, and 
the cattle are moving up in search of water and food, and 
move up the destruction with them. 

On the lower lands, where population appears to have been 



greater in the past than it is now, there are palpable indica- 
tions of a former greater rainfall. There are galched valleys 
where the remnants of terraced lands show that vegetation 
had been carefully and abundantly grown, but which, for some 
time, have been forsaken and dry, and the flowing streams 
which fed these lands are dried up and gone. 

Unfortunately, the date which can throw any precise light 
upon a change of rainfall are meagre, and extend back over 
only a few years. I however, obtained a register of the rainfall 
in Mulii, which covers the years from 1884 up to the present. 
If we divide these years into two periods the results are 
found to be as follows: 

Periods. Average Annual Rainfall. 

1884 to 1890 inclusive 62.21 inches. 

1891 to 1896 " ....40.30 " 

The immediately beneficial results of shutting the cattle 
out by enclosure of an area running from the plantation head 
lines several miles back are beyond all question and praise. 
I have seen these results on Hawaii, above Kukuihaele; and 
on Maui on lands controlled by the Haiku Sugar Co.; and I 
am informed of similar results on Kauai on lands lying above 
Lihue. 

You remarked, Mr. President, upon the tracts of land in 
Kohala known under the name Awini. The situation of those 
lands was observed by me, but I was unable to visit them. 
I endeavored, however, to get some idea of the difference in 
rainfall upon the Awini forest lands, and cleared lands lying 
at a lower level towards the sea. The data cover only thirteen 
months, and extend from July 1, 1896 to July 31, 1897. 

Awini forest lands 63.40 inches. 

Lower cleared lands 39.19 " 

The significance of these data lies less in the simple but 
notable difference shown, than in the indication that were 
there no forest upon Awini not only would the Awini rainfall 
be reduced, but the rainfall below would scarcely be reduced 
still more. The conditions of this particular location appear 
to suggest the inadvisability, at the present time, of further 



lessening the forest area in the Kohala district by clearing 
lands; and the general state of the district indicates that steps 
should at once be taken, either by mutual agreement or by 
authority, to restore the conditions which appear to have fur- 
nished the greater rainfall of an earlier period. 

The Awini case may be allowed to raise the whole question 
of the economic balance of relation between forest and cleared 
lands. It is quite clear, on the one hand, that a country cannot 
become of value which is given up to permanent forest. On 
the other hand, we are admonished by the actual experiences 
of other countries, and notably by the practice of the United 
States, that the ruthless destruction of forest, or the disturb- 
ance of the relation of forest area to cleared surface, leads to 
irremediable consequences. Herein lies the whole problem — 
the adjustment of forest surface to areas of cultivated land. 
But this is a work requiring very specific knowledge, and the 
direction of some one expert in the matters of forestry and 
climatology. 

I shall venture to urge the primary importance of expert 
direction in the matter of forest removal. Trustworthy advice 
would suggest areas that could be cleared without any cause 
of damage to contiguous lands, and would show why the re- 
ducing of forest area in given localities might be followed by 
irreparable results. These things, however, are not easily im- 
pressed upon communities; and the history of the attitude of 
the United States Congress towards the forestry question 
shows that legislation may come too late, which is cruelly 
emphazised by a report of the present Secretary of Agricul- 
ture, recently sent to me, wherein Congress is told that "our 
virgin coniferous supplies must share the fate of the buffalo, 
unless a practical application of rational forestry is made" for 
"the end is visible, and the most sanguine cannot longer hide 
the truth that within the next decade we shall witness the ex- 
haustion of the greatest staple of our lumber market." 

I have the honor to remain, Mr. President, 
Yours most respectfully, 

(Signed) Walter Maxwell. 



\ 



(Copy of letter received by Dr. Maxwell in reply to questions 
on Forestry from Prof. Furnow, Chief of Forestry, IT. S. 
Department Agriculture.) 

U. S. Department of Agriculture, _ 
Division of Forestry, 

Washington, D. C, November 3, 1897. 

Dr. Walter Maxwell, 

Honolulu, Hawaii. 

Dear Sir: — It is with greatest interest that I have read your 
communication received yesterday and I congratulate you on 
having been instrumental in bringing the necessity of rational 
treatment of your forest cover to the attention of your Gov- 
ernment. 

Anything I can do in the way of furnishing argument and 
advice to strengthen your hand and that of your Government 
towards establishing a conviction that the interests of agri- 
culture require timely attention to the treatment of forest 
cover will be cheerfully given. 

This problem, — the proper use of soils and natural condi- 
tions — as you know, has occupied me for more than a dozen 
years in the United States and has long ago been solved in 
Germany, where I had the honor of practicing forestry as an 
officer of the Prussian Forest Department. I consider the 
forestry problem one of the most important, with which every 
Government or Nation has to deal sooner or later; and the 
earlier it is approached the less damage will be experienced. 
I recall to you the failure of the Ceylon coffee plantations, of 
the olive groves in France, attributed to the neglect of this 
question, and the experience in that and other countries of im- 
mense damage to agricultural interests undoubtedly produced 
by delay in giving attention to this problem of forest pro- 
tection. That such an important question should not be left 
to amateurish tinkering and that expert advice in this as in 



other matters is productive of better results than the haphaz- 
ard management of the half educated amateur appears to 
me self evident. The immense interest involved in sugar and 
coffee plantations on your Islands can hardly afford to be 
hazarded by leaving unstudied the relation of their success to 
surrounding conditions, when expert advice may prevent them 
from foolish destruction. 

I notice that in your argument you have mainly brought 
forward the influence on rainfall which is claimed for a forest 
cover. While I hold that under certain conditions such an 
influence may exist, the proposition is by no means generally 
proven and the likelihood of its existence in any given case 
can only be determined by careful analysis of the local con- 
ditions. This question is so complicated that it withdraws it- 
self from direct investigation, our present means of demon- 
strating it are still insufficient; hence this argument for for- 
estry is open to attack without sure defense. We know too 
little about it. 

While I am not personally acquainted with the geographic 
and climatic conditions on your Islands, I believe that they 
receive their moisture bearing currents from the East, these 
currents impinge against the high elevations usually found in 
the middle of the Islands and being forced upwards, i.e., under 
less barometric pressure are made to give up their moisture 
on the windward side, hence the topographic conditions alone 
would explain the following general distribution of rainfall: 
a smaller amount in the low lands of the eastern coast; an in- 
creasing rainfall with increasing elevation; a dry or rainless 
country on the western slope, except at higher elevations, the 
rainfall here depending upon moist western winds, which are 
probably rare. 

There should, if these conditions are as stated, a dense forest 
growth be found on the higher elevations to the eastward in 
response to the greater rainfall. This forest growth, it is rea- 
sonable to suppose, may if in good, i.e., dense condition, assist 
in increasing the rainfall over its own area, thus accentuating 



the difference between the records of higher and lower alti- 
tudes. 

The much more forcible argument for retaining hilltops and 
mountain sides under forest cover lies in the function which 
this, cover plays in the disposal of the fallen precipitation. 
This influence is purely mechanical, easily understood and 
easily observed. 

There is one other well known detriment to agriculture 
resulting from forest devastation which has impoverished 
large areas in France and through which many millions of 
soil capital are lost annually in our States, namely by erosion 
and gulying of fields. It is estimated that we lose in the 
United States annually some 200 square miles of fertile soil 
by this erosion, besides losing the fertile soil which is washed 
into the rivers, in addition large expenditures are necessitated 
to keep the rivers open for navigation. The Mississippi prob- 
lem is undoubtedly aggravated from this cause. 

I shall not weary you farther with details, which you can 
find discussed in my publications from this office sent 3^011. 

I come now to your question as to what course it would be 
well for your Government to take with reference to your for- 
estry problems. I believe in acting upon facts, rather than 
theories. I would, therefore, advise that before any perma- 
nent measures are proposed, an examination of the facts bear- 
ing upon the problem be made; in other words to employ an 
expert or experts to make a physiographic description of the 
Islands with special reference to these problems. 

This office just now is making precisely such a reconnois- 
sance survey for the State of Wisconsin prior to and as a basis 
for desirable legislation. 

Such a survey or inspection, if I understand the conditions 
of your Islands aright, may be made by a competent man in 
three or four months. As you may have gathered from the 
foregoing remarks, it should comprise a statement of the 
geologic and topographic conditions, the location and con- 
dition of forest cover, the relation of the forest areas to agricul- 
tural lands, the water supply conditions and such forestry 



knowledge as is necessary to form an idea of the ease of re- 
production and also of such other economic conditions as will 
aid in forming a judgment of the relative protective values of 
existing forest areas, the need of their extension and their 
location. 

You will see that not merely a forester, a man skilled in the 
technique of forest growing, but a man of judgment should be 
entrusted with such a mission. Perhaps it might be well and 
expedite the survey to associate with the examiner a resident 
geologist and perhaps the Surveyor-General, when the three 
would not only more rapidly get over the ground, but a dis- 
cussion between them might lead to a more mature judgment 
as to what recommendations should be made. 

After such an examination and report is made, which may 
be accomplished with an expenditure of less than |3,000, it 
will be time to formulate further measures of a permanent 
character. It may then be found desirable to employ a per- 
manent officer, whose business it is to look after the forestry 
interests, executing any laws and assisting by advice any 
efforts of rational management. While I believe that at pres- 
ent the material value of Hawaiian forests is of slight moment, 
I am inclined to think that the Islands would be able to grow 
on the soils unfit for agriculture all the wood supplies for their 
increasing needs, instead of importing the same. Hence the 
existence of such an officer in this direction too would find 
ample justification. 

My success in persuading the authorities of the State of 
Wisconsin that this is the rational method of procedure leads 
me to hope that elsewhere such intelligent action might be 
had and that the era of doing things right from the start in- 
stead of constantly mending mismanaged affairs may have 
arrived. 

With best wishes of success to the budding forestry move- 
ment on your Islands. 

Sincerely yours, 

(Signed) R. E. Furnow, 

Chief. 



10 



FORESTRY AND FOREST PROTECTION AND INDIRECT 
UTILITY OF FORESTS. 

(By Mr. David Forbes of Kukuihaele, Hamakua, Hawaii, 
member of Forestry Committee.) 

Kukuihaele, Hamakua, Nov. 15th, 1897. 

W. M. Giffard, Esq., 

Chairman Committee on Forestry. 

Dear Sir: — Forestry holds such a vital part in the future 
welfare of these Islends, that I cannot let this opportunity 
pass without tendering a few remarks on the subject. As the 
Government of any country exercises supreme power within 
the limits of its territory, and makes laws which are binding 
on all alike, it should also aim at promoting the welfare of its 
people when free action on part of the individual is detrimental 
to the interests of the community as a whole. 

Applying the foregoing, in the case of forestry, to the Gov- 
ernment of Hawaii who control the larger portion of forest 
lands within its territory, it follows: that where the welfare of 
the community demands it, and where forests are necessitated 
by their indirect effects on the Island industries, no effort 
should be spared to protect and improve the limited area of 
forest now existing. Thus bringing the state and community 
into harmony, even if these forests yield directly a low rate of 
interest on their capital value, the apparent loss will be more 
than reimbursed by the improvement and nourishing of indus- 
tries which produce a high taxing capacity of the people. 

It seems proven that the preservation of an appropriate 
percentage of the area of these Islands, as forests, cannot be 
left entirely to private enterprise, in which case it becomes a 
duty of the state to interfere. The ever increasing flow of peo- 
ple into these Islands as settlers in search of land for agricul- 
tural purposes, and how an existence can be maintained on 
the lands acquired (with climate and moisture suitable for 

V 



11 

their industries) are deserving of serious consideration. In the 
breaking up of forest lands as homesteads, a wise provision, 
has been made, in reserving a certain proportion of these lands 
as diffused forest, in belts, or boundaries between the several 
holders. In many cases the necssity of these reserves are 
appreciated by the intelligent settler, who protects the forest 
adjoining his lands and increases its value by the planting of 
trees* which will recompense his efforts, by not only affording 
shelter to his crops, moderating the extremes of temperature 
in surrounding soil and air (which is lowered during the day 
and raised during the night), but also in the increased humidity 
of air and maintaining a favorable degree of moisture in the 
soil; thus securing more equable climate and surroundings 
for a high state of agriculture. 

Not alone to sugar-cane growers, the enterprising coffee 
planter, and even the rancher to a certain extent, but to all en- 
gaged in any cultivation where products of the soil are his 
means of support, does the maintenance of forest in a certain 
proportion mean a matter of the greatest importance. 

In the districts of Hilo, but more particularly that of Haina- 
kua and Kohala, for many years the upper-land forests have 
suffered from the inroads of cattle, with results which are now 
visible to even the most casual observer. Young seedlings and 
coppice (or supplemental forest) are entirely destroyed, leaving 
but the decaying tree-butts, to mark where healthy forest 
grew. While in place of the little trickling brook we find but 
an empty channel ornamented with the bleached skeletons of 
cattle, who had wandered there to relieve their thirst, but only 
found disappointment and death. At Kukuihaele for the past 
twelve years, at two elevations correct record of the rainfall 
has been preserved. The past year shows but a total of 
34 15-100 inches at 950 feet elevation, while in former years a 
rainfall of from 80 to 100 inches was not considered unusual. 
Periodical droughts may happen here as elsewhere, bat apart 
from this, the opinion of several men who have lived for sixty 
years in these districts, as well as the careful observations of 
Dr. Guppy, a student of nature, who a few months ago spent 



12 

some time on the summits of our Island mountains, go to show 
that the rainfall and means of conserving the same is much 
less than that of years gone by. With the future of Island in- 
dustries and prosperity of country at heart, is it not then time 
to consider what course should be pursued to benefit the com- 
munity; apart from interests of the individual? Where as in 
the present case forests are necessary to produce climatic and 
mechanical effects, a wise administration will assure the main- 
tenance and protection of an adequate proportion of the coun- 
try under such. 

In applying the foregoing conclusions to these Islands, I do 
not, however, overlook the facts, and arguments of many, that 
through the insular position and exposure to the moist air cur- 
rents which come direct from the sea, this group is not entirely 
governed in its rainfall by the area of forest on its mountain 
slopes. It is beyond dispute, however, that forest is invaluable 
in the position it bears on the retention of moisture, preserva- 
tion and regulation of the water supply in springs and rivers, 
ensuring an even flow and preventing floods; or where the 
water is in demand for irrigation, etc., to reduce evaporation 
on the catchment areas. Most of us are aware that where 
forest has become denuded on the mountain slopes, the vari- 
eties of vegetation which survive are not of a nature to help 
and prepare the soil to retain water for any length of time. 

The consequences are, that so soon as a heavy rain falls, it 
simply runs over the surface to channels on lower ground, in 
which its way is rapidly found to the ocean. 

During the past season in many places along this coast the 
scarcity of water for domestic purposes was severely felt, 
so much as, that in several instances importation by steamers 
had to be resorted to, in order to supply the people's needs. 

Considering then the diminishing supply and the ever in- 
creasing demand, I believe there is no need of further argu- 
ment in favor of forest reservation. 

I am meanwhile unable to state what percentage of the 
Islands are now under forest, although, I know the area of 
protected forest to be decimal infinite. The following table of 



13 

forest distribution in several sea bound countries, from which 
a fairly reliable data is given may be of interest: 

Percentage of total aver- Forest area per head 

Countries. age of country under of Population in 

forest. acres. 

East India (British) 25 % .5 

U. S. America 17 " 7 6 

Russia i 1 1 Europe 42 " 6.1 

Sweden in Europe 35 " 9.1 

Germany in Europe 26 " .8 

Ital} r in Europe 22 '' .5 

France in Europe 16 " 6 

Great Britain in Europe 4 " 1 

In the above it will be seen the percentage of forest area 
varies from 42 to 4 per cent., while the area per head of popu- 
lation from 9.1 to .1 acres, showing that the demands for forest 
in different countries vary considerably. Russia and Sweden 
may have more than is necessary to supply their wants, while 
meanwhile U. S. America and India export much of their 
valuable forest in shape of sawn timber, but they have at last 
realized the necessity of protection from cattle, fire and wood- 
man's too free use of the axe, and see the necessity of laws to 
regulate such waste and destruction. Great Britain and even 
Italy and France have a much smaller area under forest than 
is necessary to supply their demands for timber, although, 
from their situation as sea bound countries, limited season of 
rapid evaporation and entirely different means of water reser- 
vation (to these Islands) the climatic effects from their limited 
forest area are not objectionable. 

Much can be said on the existing methods of forest reserva- 
tion, and regeneration, character and composition of forests, 
as well as the Sylviculture systems of treatment; but mean- 
while such is unnecessary, my object being to renew the at- 
tention of all with the welfare of country at heart to the effects 
of forest vegetation as well as effects of its absence on local- 
ities as such in which I am placed. Trusting I may not fail in 
such an object and thinking with a popular writer, who said— 
the man who plants a single tree successfully, confers a bless- 



14 



ing on mankind and succeeding generations, even if the bal- 
ance of his life has some what been spent in vain. 

Yours truly, D. Forbes. 



(Letter by Mr. K. 8. Gjerdrum of Hana, Maui, member of 
Forestry Committee.) 

To the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association, 
Honolulu. 

Gentlemen:— The Legislature of 1892 passed an Act to 
establish and maintain a Bureau of Agriculture and "For- 
estry," which, as Section 1 says, shall have for its object: 

1. The planting of trees for forest conservation. 

2. The promotion of an Arbor Day observation throughout 
the country. 

3. The preservation of forests and all kindred subjects. 

The agricultural interests of these Islands have received 
their full share of benefits from this Bureau, but only little 
seems to have been done regarding forestry, although the 
different members of the Forestry Committee of this Associa- 
tion in their reports have every year more strongly urged the 
necessity of the Covernment taking early and energetic action 
in this matter. 

It appears to me to be unnecessary to again go deeply in- 
to the theory of the relation between forests and rainfall when 
all intelligent and observing people admit that the decrease 
or increase of rainfall goes pari passu with the decrease or 
increase of the forests. Our rain gauges show us from day 
to day, and the statistics published by the Government 
Weather Bureau show us annually, the cold fact of the cor- 
rectness of the theory, and also the localities in which rain- 
fall has decreased from year to year with the disappearance 
of the forests. Fifty years ago practically the whole wind- 
ward side of the Island of Maui was covered with dense 
forests, containing Koa, Mamane, Aloko, Kou, Ohia, Paihi, 



15 

Hau and other valuable trees and an immense undergrowth. 
At that time rainfall all over the Island of Maui was abun- 
dant. Most of the wheat used in California in those days was 
raised on Maui, and later on sugar plantations were carried 
on successfully on Maui without irrigation; there was always 
enough rain. Now it is different. There was a short time 
last summer when people in some parts of Maui did not have 
enough water to wash their clothes. The clearing of forest 
land for agricultural purposes would have had hardly any 
effect upon the rainfall if the remaining forest had been pre- 
served, but it was not taken care of and is now in a very bad 
state. People have cut trees in the forests for timber and 
fire-wood and never planted another tree. Insects, creeping- 
vines and other natural enemies of forests have killed a great 
many trees, but the greatest enemy of our forests has been 
and still is the large number of wild cattle roaming all over 
the easiest accessible and best parts of the forests, killing 
full-grown trees by rubbing off the bark and absolutely pre- 
venting any new growth by trampling it down and by eating 
it. This destruction of forests is still going on. Everybody 
says it ought to be stopped, but nobody seems to do anything. 
Everybody's business is nobody's business. Some districts 
are now entirely bare, and about all that has remained of the 
once so grand forest of Maui is only in the uplying and the 
rough portions of the Island where wild cattle have not ven- 
tured to any great extent. 

Next to the trouble of the diminished rainfall comes the 
trouble of the quicker drying up of the water streams after 
a rainfall. The forest, which not only produces rain, but also 
retains the rainwater, holding it among its leaves and 
branches, its undergrowth, its myriads of roots and rootlets 
and its fallen debris, letting the rainwater trickle down slow- 
ly to the water streams and keeping them supplied for a long 
time; that forest is not there. Rain pours down, the water 
rushes in torrents through the streams to the sea and soon 
after everything is dry again. Has anybody ever seen a live 
stream flow from barren country? 



16 

Not enough, rain and not enough, water in the streams are 
great evils, but they can be remedied and we all know how it 
can be done. All parties interested seem to be willing to help, 
but nobody takes the lead. Therefor, let this Association 
take the initiative step. Let all the members of our Associa- 
tion stand one by another and do their share on their own 
lands, and see that all landowners, including the largest 
landowner, the Government, do their share also. I am con- 
vinced the Government will gladly do its share. Let us in- 
troduce at the next Session of the Hawaiian Legislature in 
February, 1898, a bill providing for the setting apart of certain 
parts of the land for forests, for the appropriation of the 
necessary money, for the systematical replanting and main- 
taining of such forests and for the appointment of foresters: 
these latter to be men who fully understand and have ex- 
perience in planting and maintaining forests, who must reside 
in or near the forests in the districts for which they are 
appointed, who must make quarterly reports to the Govern- 
ment about work done, and whose duty it must also be to 
euforce the carrying out of all laws on forestry by all prop- 
erty owners. Such laws might also provide that further 
cutting down of the forest trees can only be done upon certain 
conditions and under the supervision of the foresters; that 
a certain number of trees per acre must be planted and main- 
tained by all landowners on land which is not cultivated; 
that all wild cattle now roaming over forest land is to be 
captured or killed; that seeds or plants be supplied by the 
foresters to property owners at actual cost or free, etc., etc. 

I would most earnestly urge that it is of great importance 
to have such a law passed at the coming session of the Legis- 
lature in February next, to see that such law goes into 
effect immediately and that foresters are appointed at once 
to begin with the work. 

Rainfall on Maui and the other islands is growing less from 
year to year, and the people and agriculture are suffering 
more every year; therefor the sooner the work on the forests 
is commenced, the sooner will this suffering be alleviated, and 



IT 

also the sooner the work is commenced the cheaper will it be 
to accomplish it. 

The decay of the forests is now going on constantly, every 
day, every hour, and the sooner we commence the more of the 
trees can be saved. 

The expense to landowners will be trifling in proportion 
with the value of their interests. It may take quite a little 
sum for the Government, but it will be a good investment. 
The proceeds from wood and other products of the forests will, 
after a few years, be much greater than the expense of taking 
care of them, and besides that, the country at large will have 
an immense rain-making machine. 

In all European countries forests are the source of good in- 
come to governments and individuals. 

Mr. Forbes and Mr. Marsden, in their former reports, have 
named many trees that are suitable for this climate and 
valuable for their wood and their product. 

I have had no practical experience in forestry, but I desire 
to relate an instance which shows how quickly trees will grow 
in our climate and on our soil. About the middle of last June, 
Mr. Hugh Howell planted at Nahiku several Ceara Eubber 
seeds. They were planted during the driest spell that Nahiku 
had experienced since many years, but they have grown well; 
they now measure 15 feet in height and 8 inches in circum- 
ference. Here in Hana we planted some seeds about six weeks 
ago and the young trees are now nearly 3 feet high. 

I understand that the India rubber product yields a good 
profit, even when the rubber is obtained from the remotest 
interiors of Africa and South America, and thus it would 
appear as if we could plant rubber trees here to good advan- 
tage: but this is only one article; there are a great many 
more. 

The object of this report is to again assert that forests are 
the great rain producers and stream suppliers and to show 
that our forests may be restored to their former condition 
within a few years and at a profit to the forest owners. 

And I sincerelv trust that this AssociatioE will not hesi- 



18 

tate to appoint from among its members a strong committee 
who will work with an earnest determination for the prompt 
framing of the necessary laws, the appropriation of the re- 
quired funds and the immediate commencement and ener- 
getic continuance of the work. 

Yours truly. 

K. S. GjERDRUM. 
Hana Plantation, November 19th, 1897. 



Whilst numerous suggestions have been made by former 
Committees with a view to having the Government take up 
the subject of Forestry systematically, nothing of any moment 
has been done, and with the concurrence of the members of 
your Committee, I would now ask that the Association make a 
motion to appoint a Special Committee of thrpp members, — of 
which Dr. Maxwell shall be one — for the purpose of interview- 
ing the Minister of Interior and asking him to petition the com- 
ing Legislature to appropriate sufficient funds to pay for an ex- 
pert survey of forest conditions on these Islands on the lines 
laid out and suggested by Prof. Furnow in the letter above 
published. 

Respectfully submitted, 

W. M. Giffard, 
Chairman Committee on Forestry. 



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